1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle drive control apparatus, a vehicle drive control method and a program thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a vehicle drive apparatus is loaded on a vehicle, for example, an electric vehicle. A drive motor, as an electric motor device, generates drive motor torque that is transmitted to drive wheels. The drive motor is powered (driven) by receiving direct current from a battery at the time of driving the wheels so as to generate the drive motor torque. During regeneration (generation), torque resulting from the inertia of the electric vehicle is received to generate a direct current and this generated direct current is supplied to the battery.
In another vehicle drive apparatus loaded on a hybrid vehicle, part of the engine torque is transmitted to a generator as a first electric motor device (generator motor). The other part of the engine torque is transmitted to the drive wheels by a vehicle drive apparatus. A planetary gear unit including a sun gear, a ring gear and a carrier is provided in this vehicle drive apparatus. The carrier is connected with the engine, the ring gear is connected with the drive wheel and the sun gear is connected with the generator. Thus, a rotation outputted from the ring gear and the drive motor, as the second electric motor device, is transmitted to the drive wheels in order to generate a driving force.
Further, in order to drive the vehicle drive apparatus, the hybrid vehicle (as an electric vehicle) includes a vehicle drive control unit with a vehicle control unit and a drive motor control unit, such that an entire control of the electric vehicle is carried out by the vehicle control unit while control of the drive motor is carried out by the drive motor control unit. In addition, the hybrid vehicle may also include a vehicle drive control unit with a vehicle control unit, a generator control unit and a drive motor control unit. As such, an entire control of the hybrid vehicle is carried out by the vehicle control unit, control of the generator is carried out by the generator control unit and control of the drive motor is carried out by the drive motor control unit.
If an abnormality occurs in the vehicle drive apparatus, for example, if a CPU of the vehicle drive control unit detects an abnormality, it determines the cause of the abnormality, namely, an abnormality occurrence reason, based on accumulated data. See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication 2000-214922.